Ice shaving machine



May 15, 1951 o. H. BROWNE 2,552,933

ICE-SHAVING MACHINE Filed Jan. 28, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ollie H. Browne INVEN TOR.

BY W HIS AGENT a O- H. BROWNE ICE-SHAVING MACHINE Filed Jan. 28, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 15, 1951 ICE SHAVING MACHINE Ollie H. Browne, Dallas, Tex., assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Snow Cones, Inc., Dallas, Tex., a corporation of Texas Application January 28, 1947, Serial No. 724,815

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for making artificial snow and for dispensing the ingredients for a confection that is made therefrom, and more particularly to appa-- ratus for making artificial snow from cakes of ice.

The primary object of this invention is to provide for shaving ice into wafer thin fiakes for the manufacture of a confection therefrom.

Another object of this invention is to provide for making artificial snow that gives a double cutting action which produces a product of snowlike consistency from which a confection is made in the same unitary apparatus.

$ti1l another object of this invention is to provide in a compact and combined unit a machine for making artificial snow and for dispensing the other ingredients for making a completed confection.

This present means for making artificial snow results in a product approaching real snow in consistency, without the icy brittleness of cracked ice, which results in a confection that is more delectable and therefore more saleable.

A preferred embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective front view of the confection apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the rotor detached from the machine;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective top view of the ice shaving blade removed from the rotor;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view, partly in section and partly in elevation, through the ice cabinet;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section therethrough, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a device for feeding the ice onto the shaving blades.

Referring to Fig. 1, the numeral l designates a cabinet, which preferably has a translucent cover 2 which cover is adapted to cover and enclose syrup or confection containers 3 and a motor and right-angle gear drive unit 4. The portion of the cabinet I under the cover 2 preferably has transparent side walls.

It is preferable to provide, beneath this translucent cover 2, one or more electric lamps 5, which may be colored if desired to enhance the brilliance of the display.

A member 6, which is secured by lugs 1 thereon, is adapted to seat in a hole in the top of cabinet I Depending from the member 6 and carried thereby is an insulated ice receptacle 8, which receptacle has doors 9 on the front thereof for 3 Claims. (Cl. 241*92) access to compartments l0 therein. The compartments ID are adapted to receive cakes of ice I, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

A rotor II is mounted on the lower end of a shaft I2, which shaft 12 is connected with motor unit 4 and is rotated thereby. The rotor I-l carries a pair of blades l3 in recesses M, as shown in Fig. 2. Each blade [3 has upturned needles [5 elevated slightly above the cutting edge It thereof. These needles are welded or otherwise secured to the blade 13 in any suitable and conventional manner.

The rotor H carries an upstanding rim I! which extends up and over the lower edge of the insulated ice receptacle 8, so as to prevent the shaved ice from working out from the sides thereof.

A weight 18, as shown in Fig. 6, is adapted to be placed on top of the ice cakes I to cause the feeding of said ice onto the blades [3. The weight l8 has trunnions 20 at the opposite ends thereof, which trunnions are slidably received in vertical grooves 2| which are formed in the rear portion of the ice receptacle 8 and in the inner faces of the doors 9, respectively. As the weight feeds the ice toward the blades, the trunnions 20 reach the ends of the grooves 2| just before the face of the weight 18 contacts the blades I3.

This makes possible the feeding of the ice into the blades until practically all the ice is processed, but suspends the weight thereabove, so that the blades will not be damaged by direct contact therewith. The pressure of the weight [8 gives sufficient pressure on the ice during the entire cutting process to insure of its being fed evenly onto the blades. When one block of ice has been made into snow, the feeding weight It is raised and another cake of ice placed in proper position for feeding onto the blades.

As the snow is formed from the ice, it is ejected through slots 22 in the rotor ll, onto a pan 23, which pan 23 is mounted beneath the ice receptacle 8. The pan 23 has a drain pipe 24 in the bottom thereof, whereby any water that forms in the pan is drained into a residue tank 25 conveniently located in the lower portion of the cabinet I.

It is preferable to have a storage compartment 26 in the lower portion of the cabinet I in which to store the ice that is to be used in the machine.

It is preferable to .have the upper portion of the cabinet I enclosed with transparent material or glass and to have depending transparent dispensers 21 depending from the tanks 3 into the display portion of the cabinet I. It is also prefer able to have the tanks 3 and dispenser tubes 21 removable from the upper portion of the cabinet as independent units. Dispensing faucets 28 are provided for the lower ends of the tubes 21, for

dispensing syrup, flavoring or other ingredients that may be used to make the confection.

Access doors 29 are provided in the front of the cabinet I for gaining access to the ice and flavoring therein.

In the use of the unit, ice cakes I are placed within the compartments I0, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5 and the weights I8 are properly positioned upon the ice to be cut, with the trunnions 20 received in vertical grooves 2| in the back of the compartment and inner face of the door, respectively.

With the doors 9 in closed position, the ice will rest upon the upper face of the rotor II. The motor unit 4 is connected to the rotor I I through the gearing and the shaft I2, which shaft supports rotor I I on the lower end thereof. The shaft and the rotor are keyed together to insure the rotation of the rotor by the motor 4.

Upon rotation of shaft 12, the rotor II, carrying blades I3, will act on the ice from the lower side thereof and shave it into particles of snowlike consistency. The shaved ice is ejected through the openings 22 in rotor II onto the pan 23.

By having the needle-like elements IS with upturned points on the blade I3 just above the cutting edge I6 thereof, a double cutting action is obtained. In actual practice the upturned points are approximately one-thirty-second to one-sixteenth of an inch above the cutting edge I6 of the blade I3 and are spaced apart approximately onefourth inch. Thus the ice is shaved into tiny crystals simulating those of actual snow, which would not be possible either with a straight blade without the projections, or with the needle-like projections without the straight blade. By having thi particular combination, the ice can be shaved much faster than has been possible heretofore, and to a consistency more acceptable for the confection to be made therefrom.

It is preferable that the rotor II, carrying the knives I3, be rotated at a high rate of speed, but to cut a relatively thin layer from the ice cake as it passes thereover, thus giving a much more palatable consistency to the snow from which the confection is made, than would result if a thicker cut was made by a more slowly rotating rotor.

After the ice has been shaved to form snow-like flakes, it is placed in a desirable serving container, such as a paper cone or cup, and colored and flavored as with syrup, or other desirable ingredients contained in the dispensers 21 and added thereto to make an attractive and palatable confection.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in one embodiment, it is recognized that variations and changes may be made therein without departing from the invention, except as specified in the claims.

I claim:

1. In an ice shaving machine, a pair of spaced receptacles each adapted to receive a cake of ice, a rotor rotatably mounted beneath the receptacles and carrying a blade having a continuous knife edge in position to act upon said ice upon rotation of said rotor, said blade comprising a knife edge having a plurality of needle shaped cutting points positioned on and secured to the top of said blade, which needle points are in position to engage thecake of ice before said.

knife edge of said blade for cutting snow-like crystals from the bottom of said cake if ice.

2. In an ice shaving machine, a cabinet having a pair of spaced receptacles therein, each being adapted to receive a cake of ice, said receptacles having open bottoms, a rotor positioned beneath said bottoms of said receptacles, means mounting said rotor for turning movement relative thereto, a motor operatively connected to said rotor for rotating said rotor, a blade having a flat upper surface with a knife edge carried by said rotor and secured thereto in position for shaving action upon said ice, a plurality of spaced needle pointed cutting elements having elongated bodies secured'to the top of said blade in spaced substantially parallel relation to each other with said needle pointed cutting elements having their needle points spaced not more than the thickness of said elongated body portions above the upper flat surface of said blade and with the points in advance of said cutting edge of the knife edge blade so as to cut ice crystals simulating snow from the underside of said cake of ice.

3. In an ice shaving machine a cabinet having a base, sides, and a top, an opening formed in said top, doors mounted on a side of said cabinet, an elongated, vertical housing removably mounted within said opening and supported by said top of said cabinet and carrying a power unit on the upper end of said housing for driving a rotor, a pair of spaced, elongated, vertical receptacles, substantially rectangular in cross section, formed in said housing and which receptacles are open at their lower ends, a pair of doors mounted on a side of said housing and in open communication with the respective receptacles, each of said receptacles being adapted to receive therein a cake of ice, a shaft extendingdownward from said power unit between said receptacles and having a rotor mounted on the lower end thereof, which rotor has an upstanding annular rim around the outer periphery thereof and projecting upward in overlapping relation with the lower end portion of said housing and in open communication therewith, said upstanding annular rim being in sufficiently close fitting relation to said housing to prevent radial discharge of said ice from said rotor, elongated, vertical slots formed in the housing on opposite sides of each of said receptacles, a quadrilateral prism having projections on the opposite ends thereof, positioned in each of said receptacles so each prism will rest upon its respective cake of ice with said projections extending into said vertical slots'so as to guide each of said prisms in each of said receptacles in a spaced relation to the walls thereof, a blade having a flat upper surface with a continuous knife edge formed with the upper surface thereof and mounted on the upper side of said rotor in position for shaving action on said ice, and needle pointed elements with elongated bodies spaced along the upper surface of said blade and having the needle points mounted slightly above and extending slightly forward of said knife edge of said blade with said elongated body portion thereof being secured to the upper fiat surface of said blade for shav ing crystalline flakes from the underside of said cake of ice upon rotation of said rotor by said power unit.

' OLLIE H. BROWNE.

' ,i ferences onufo llowi s P REFERENCES CITED Number The following references are of record in the 134L894 file of this patent: UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 2:181:00) Number Name Date 2,378,502

119,324 Collins Sept. 26, 1871 390,998 Tunstill Oct. 9, 1888 841,534 Keeler Jan. 15, 1907 Number 1,155,663 Lamb on. 5, 1915 10 612,202 1,157,013 Lewis Oct. 19, 1915 Name Date Freeman June 1, 1920 Bert Feb. 5, 1929 Pokorny et a1. June 9, 1931 Shively Nov. 21, 1939 Richardson June 19, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France July 26, 1926 

